News

2009-11-25 13:37:52.37

Arkansas Man Claims $100,000 Missouri Lottery Prize

Crossing the state line to visit his girlfriend at work led James Poole, 48, to a $100,000 prize playing the Missouri Lottery’s “Merry Money” Scratchers game. He purchased the winning ticket at Mr. T’s Liquor Store, 510 U.S. Highway 412 in Cardwell, and claimed his prize at the Lottery’s St. Louis regional office on Nov. 23.

Poole, a routine Missouri Lottery player from Paragould, Ark., said he likes to “kind of mix it up” and had been trying Scratchers games at various price levels. He had been playing $1, $2 and $3 tickets when he moved on to the $5 “Merry Money” game.

Just when he “was about to give up on it,” his ticket began to reveal the game’s top prize.

“It about took my breath away,” Poole said. “Then I took off running.”

That “running” led him to his girlfriend, who was working at the adjacent gas station. According to Poole, her shocked reaction was “about as bad as mine.”

A plant worker in Paragould, Poole already has definite ideas about how to use his unexpected prize money.

“I’m going to pay my mom’s house off,” he said. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do with it.”

"Merry Money" is a $5 game that officially began on Oct. 24. In addition to offering a $100,000 top prize, players holding non-winning "Merry Money" Scratchers tickets may enter them into the "Holiday Magic" second-chance promotion for a chance to win a trip for four to WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort,® a $1,000 shopping spree or $300 worth of Missouri Lottery Scratchers tickets.